Archive | January, 2010

Behind Enemy Lines: Men in the Intimates Department

28 Jan

By Adam Welsch
Cupid Intimates

As a guy, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for women to shop for intimate apparel.  There’s an astounding variety of bras, panties, and shapewear on display in every clothing store’s lingerie department, and the hunt for the right piece must feel overwhelming when you don’t know exactly which style, size, and color you want to buy.  Also, intimate apparel is just that – intimate.   It must be difficult to ask for help from salespeople who are total strangers, or have other shoppers watch what you pull off the rack, when the items you’re looking at are normally hidden from the outside world.  So, it’s not at all surprising that I usually receive confused, anxious, suspicious, and sometimes even angry looks from women when I walk into an intimate apparel department.  But I wonder how many women take a moment to think about how uncomfortable most men are who have to make their way into such foreign territory, or the real reason the men are there? (more…)

Brassiere Alfresco

26 Jan

By MaryJo Kosisher-Demski
Cupid Intimates

Perhaps the most controversial article of clothing in fashion history has been the brassiere or, as it’s more commonly known, the bra. It’s been both revered (for its abilities to reduce or enlarge perceived breast size, restrain movement during exercise, and enhance cleavage) and reviled (by those who’ve felt it’s exemplified the way women’s clothing has shaped, controlled, and even deformed, women’s bodies to conform to a male-dominated society’s desires). So, how appropriate that this feminine icon has moved from fashion’s underside to its topside, so to speak, in an increasingly public world. (more…)

Some Bluster About Deluster

21 Jan

By Jake Welch
Naomi & Nicole®

Have you ever wondered how those pretty, two-toned designs on bras and shapewear, like those shown in this picture, are created?  Those effects are generated by a process called delustering, a printing process applied during the production of fabric.

When creating pigment prints, fabric mills use liquid chemical solutions or “binder systems” to enable fabrics to hold onto their colors after patterns are printed onto them.  Such “systems” consist of a liquid acrylic, wetting agents, a fabric softener, and a catalyst.  The process is permanent and prevents the color on the fabric from either washing out during laundering, or from rubbing off during the normal course of daily wear. (more…)

Shapewear Becomes Activewear

19 Jan

By Marcy Montgomery Jones
Cupid Intimates

Conventional wisdom says that shapewear is only worn by the less-active among us, those who aren’t able to achieve the looks we want through a combination of diet and exercise.  But after listening to a lot of stories from many of my coworkers, I’ve discovered that there’s increasingly good reason to challenge this notion.  The truth is that, with their new technology, shapewear garments are making the move from the office, supermarket, and fancy restaurant to the sports field, bike path, and ski slope.  They’re being used unexpectedly as baselayers and fit shorts in a variety of activities, in ways having nothing to do with their intended functions. Typically, these clever applications are the brain children of teenage girls – the daughters of today’s conventional shapewear consumers. (more…)